MAGA Debates Empire While Empire Debates More Bombs
The Hill breathlessly covers the MAGA crowd's 'newfound debate' on American imperialism. Apparently, some Republicans are now questioning endless wars and foreign entanglements. One might wonder if this reflection is spurred by the $113 billion in aid recently greenlit for Ukraine (a fraction of its actual cost), or the continued, unquestioned blank checks to Israel—like the $14.3 billion military
package pushed through Congress for Netanyahu's government, despite 25,000+ Palestinian deaths in Gaza. (According to OpenSecrets.org, AIPAC and its affiliates spend millions each cycle influencing these very decisions, with key members of Congress receiving significant donations.) While MAGA 'debates' whether America should be an empire, the actual machinery of empire—the military-industrial
complex, the lobbying firms, the 'aid' packages—continues its work unimpeded. This isn't a new debate; it's a bipartisan tradition, merely dressed in different rhetorical outfits for different audiences. The only real argument seems to be over which front to fund next, not whether to fund them at all. How quaint that 'anti-imperialists' on the right often end up voting for the same imperial
actions their left-coded counterparts decry.